BEHOLD! Victor Dire, the most cunning vampyre, has hatched a plan to eliminate human interference among the ruins he once called home. He plotted in concert with his flesh construct - Sigrid Schreck - and involved the forces of his close allies the Vermin.
The following images detail a story ... told mostly by my daughter - Ella - who is only 5. As usual my photographic skills and equipment aren't great - so I've mixed images with flash with images without.
Vermin reinforcements rush along hastily constructed paths to surround Captain Kruger's band - already drawn into vicious fighting in the centre.
Siegfried - champion of Kruger's band - faces down a horror spawned deep in the sewers - a Rat Beast.
The other warriors watch stupefied by his insane bravery.
Surely, the brave barbarian will be ripped apart!
(As above ... is this a better shot ... in some ways yes ... others no.)
Atop the Spider Tower, Sigrid and Victor Dire gloat over the encroaching doom to befall Captain Kruger - who had once before managed to slay the vampyre.
But on this day the humans did not stand alone - Freya Fangbreaker (Thanks Reaper ... great figure and great name!) had arrived with her axes sharpened and resolve sure.
Kruger and Siegfried now struggled with the brute ... the battle could go either way. Victor signaled for another beast to begin its assault - the ferocious Bloodrinker shambled forward.
But Dwarf honour could not abide their friends to fight and die alone.
Bloodrinker spotted her prey and howled ...
More unholy creatures beckoned to the call of the vampyre ... stalking through the ruins of the Cursed Keep Otto Schwarz led the slavering dire wolf - Zoltan.
(From one of Bloodrinker's press release images ... she'll have a single and book soon.)
Battle was again joined ... Helga Axemaiden hefted her formidable weapon ... surely this could wound the beast.
The axe bit deeply and Bloodrinker fled into the night ...
Fearing the potency of his forces would be diminished, Victor enacted the spell to recall his unliving host. The Dwarfs had foiled his plan ... a cruel fate would await them.
Sigrid looked down on the last of the fighting ... humans and Rat Beast drew apart exhausted and bearing many wounds each. She reflected on the flaw in 'her' plan. The conclusion seemed inescapable ... it was Victor's temerity! She would abide her bungling master ... for now.
The true author of the plot (and others on the day ... including the theft of the Queen's crown ... perhaps a future edition?)
The rats had not arrived in time ... they had awaited the outcome of the fight ... too timorous to over commit to a fight they had lost before to Captain Kruger's skilled warriors.
As the humans sought to withdraw ... Festus, the necromancer, crept onto the ruined tower to hurl a final curse ... its outcome would not be felt for some time - but it would led to the ruin of one of the brave band.
The final images show the last moments of the epic battle that was later captured in the famed painting by Lorenzo Manus. It hung for many years in the throne room of Leopold the Clement and is one of the most famed artistic works in the kingdom entitled 'The Barbarian and the Beast.'
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